PC in a house fire

TechLady

TechLady

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I've got two separate issues I could really use some guidance on...

A client of mine just had their house go up in flames. The computer was spared, or so I'm told, but it has a lot of soot inside I think. She wants me to evaluate for insurance. Computer was only six months old at the time. I've never dealt with this before, so I have no idea what I should be looking for or writing up. Also they obviously have a lot of paperwork to fill out now and she wants SOMETHING up and running by Thursday.

Second issue is a brand-new out of the box Acer Aspire TC-885 that is constantly crashing. I've been trying to run the setup routine and it crashes and restarts after five minutes every time. I thought maybe the hard drive was bad so I switched that out but same result. My guess would be some kind of bad bios setting but I don't know. Graphics is integrated Intel 630. What should I be looking at?
 
nlinecomputers said:
If data recovery is required then quote sending the disk to a major lab. Many of the big DR labs (OnTrack, DataSavers, Gillware) work hand in hand with insurance companies.
Click to expand...

And this is an instance where I would never, even for a single second, consider having anyone other than a professional data recovery lab touch that drive to do so. It may turn out to be a simple "plug n' copy" but it could very well not, and since insurance is involved they know that covering such services is part of the bargain.
 
About the computer in the house. I've done insurance estimates before. Basically your objective is to produce a written estimate on what it would cost to bring the item of interest back to it's "original" condition before the fire or an equivalent replacement. It's the insurance company who makes the decision on what will happen.

This includes discussing with the customer whether data is needed from the original HD. So I'd guess you quote data recovery lab plus all the electronic parts in the computer. If a replacement or equivalent is not available, make note, then price out a full replacement. Don't be bashful about charging. Couple of hours of labor plus trip charge.
 
TechLady said:
I've got two separate issues I could really use some guidance on...

A client of mine just had their house go up in flames. The computer was spared, or so I'm told, but it has a lot of soot inside I think. She wants me to evaluate for insurance. Computer was only six months old at the time. I've never dealt with this before, so I have no idea what I should be looking for or writing up. Also they obviously have a lot of paperwork to fill out now and she wants SOMETHING up and running by Thursday.

Second issue is a brand-new out of the box Acer Aspire TC-885 that is constantly crashing. I've been trying to run the setup routine and it crashes and restarts after five minutes every time. I thought maybe the hard drive was bad so I switched that out but same result. My guess would be some kind of bad bios setting but I don't know. Graphics is integrated Intel 630. What should I be looking at?
Click to expand...
agree with others. a machine that crashes out of the box has a fatal hardware problem. power or motherboard. Don't spend any time on it. Put it right back in the box and RMA it.
 
TechLady said:
Computer was only six months old at the time.
Click to expand...
The physical value of the computer should be found on the receipt if it was not lost in the fire.
Markverhyden said:
This includes discussing with the customer whether data is needed from the original HD. So I'd guess you quote data recovery lab plus all the electronic parts in the computer. If a replacement or equivalent is not available, make note, then price out a full replacement. Don't be bashful about charging. Couple of hours of labor plus trip charge.
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This also.
 
I have a template here, have done some claims. You need to get whoever the insurance company is and get the client to put the claim through. Then you can get a claim number and send a letter regarding claim.

I would inform the client to not use that PC & not store it inside wherever they are residing , as that is what the claim is about. If they wish to go ahead with the claim backup all data and destroy the HDD and send it off to e-waste after claim has been submitted and approved.

Insert your header, business details etc.
 

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I hate insurance claims and am thinking about charging more than the standard $75 diagnostic fee to write one up because clients almost never follow through with the repair, but basically what you have to do is quote how much it would be to replace all the components affected by the fire (in other words, every freaking component in the computer). The cost will be something ridiculous with labor (like 3-4x what the computer is actually worth). Say in the notes that the computer is worth $XXX while the cost of repair will be $X,XXX so you'd recommend replacement.

As for the brand new computer, it could be something as simple as bad RAM. Swap out the stick(s) and try again. If that doesn't solve the issue then you should probably just RMA the sucker (or better yet, throw it in the garbage as it's a low-end consumer grade PC that's bound to have more problems down the road).
 
nlinecomputers said:
I wouldn't trust a computer that was in a fire like that. No way to know what chemicals could be in the soot that might short out the motherboard. Treat it as a full loss and full data recovery and quote replacements and labor accordingly.
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^^^^ This^^^^
Send the HD to the pros for recovery and add to the amount.
If you try and recover it yourself, it may crap out at any time.
Let the insurance cover it.
And let me guess.......................SHE HAS NO BACKUPS!
 
Quote High but fair because insurance usually low-balls.

They are asking you to write up the cheapest way to put the PC back to its pre-loss condition.


If you recommend a replacement, be certain to make a list of every component it needs, and its cost and labor to replace. Add it all up, and show it will cost more to repair than to replace.

Insurance just wants to pay to replace a $10 part inside the computer and have it fixed.
 
frase said:
I have a template here, have done some claims. You need to get whoever the insurance company is and get the client to put the claim through. Then you can get a claim number and send a letter regarding claim.
Click to expand...

OMG thank you, very helpful
 
I can appreciate the carefulness, but... look a the PC. Does it have fire damage? Any type of heat damage at all on the plastics? Then look at the HDD - what is the state of it? Is it just covered in soot? Is there a breather port?
I don't know how microscopic soot can get, but the only damage I can imagine is soot getting in through breather hole if HDD was on.

Must weigh the situation, the NEED for files, and how likely it is that this HDD is not 100% fine.
 
The last time I did this, the client paid me to image their disk, so they had their stuff. And they got a form that included a replacement quote from the same manufacturer for a similar item.

In this case they actually came back with the replacement machines. I put their images on the new machines and they walked out with fully functional computers.

I would engage exterior data recovery pros only if the drive itself showed some sort of physical damage. Tower cases in particular are negative spaces surrounded by metal, that's actually a low grade thermal shield. So as long as they didn't get soaked while the fire was being put out, the odds of the drives being fully intact is actually quite high.

But that's all a conversation you have to have up front. Does the client just want the paperwork? Sell them the paperwork... do they want more? Whatever it is, don't do it free!
 
I'm going on the original statement: "The computer was spared, or so I'm told, but it has a lot of soot inside I think."

I would proceed with extreme caution if the "lot of soot" presumption is verified. Like I said earlier, it could be a "wipe it off, plug it in, and copy" but it very well could not.

But, as others have pointed out, this presumes that the data matters. If it doesn't, then it's an entirely different situation.
 
One thing to point out about the HD sitting in the computer and possible damage due to the fire. Yes, the air space inside does act as an insulator. But if the computer case is metal with a metal cage holding the HD the heat will conduct along the metal path much faster than the air space.

You can use the condition of plastics as a gauge. Depending on whether it's PCV or HDPE, the melting point is anywhere from 300F to 500F. If external plastics show no effects then it's highly doubtful the HD experienced any negative thermal exposure. Open the case and inspect the insides. Depending on the OEM they may have things like rubber grommets used in the drive mount. Internal cables, like SATA, use a softer plastic so the melting point is much lower. So if either show heat damage that is a signal.

Either way, since this is an insurance claim, just tell the customer to tell the underwriter that data is important and they can't risk loosing data so it needs to be sent out. In the case of soot using an electronics cleaning solution will work fine for cleaning them up. Almost all are alcohol based. Isopropyl works just fine. As does WD40. I've used both many times in past for cleaning PCB's.
 
Romaniac said:
I can appreciate the carefulness, but...

Must weigh the situation, the NEED for files, and how likely it is that this HDD is not 100% fine.
Click to expand...

Yeah the PC wasn't actually too bad inside and I was able to get data off just fine.
 
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